Even for people who don’t smoke cigarettes, there seems to be a certain romantic allure that surrounds the habit of smoking cigars.
Perhaps it is the complex, sweet aromas before and after lighting up, or the refined way in which a cigar is enjoyed, swilling the smoke around the tongue like a fine cognac.
Or maybe its the manually intensive, meticulous process of making cigars, from the planting and harvesting, to the drying, fermenting and skillful hand rolling, or the way they all finally look so perfectly uniform in their elegant wooden boxes.
It could be the colourful, larger than life characters whose identities seem so linked to images of a fat cigar: Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Jack Nicholson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, just to name a few.
Or maybe it’s the mystique of where the most famous cigars come from, the forbidden Caribbean island of Cuba.
Whatever the appeal is, there is no doubt that cigars are a symbol of power, wealth, success and a lifestyle that appreciates the finer things. So where better to enjoy a cigar than a bright light city like Macau?
Yet, despite the growing popularity of wine and fine dining in the city, it seems that cigars remain a very niche market here.
“Not a lot of people smoke cigars in Macau. The majority of our customers are still from Mainland China,” notes Henry Leong, Shop Manager of La Casa del Habano, one of three shops in the family cigar retailing business that his father, Leong Man Wai started some 18 years ago.
“However, as average incomes are increasing, more people are becoming interested,” he adds. “Smoking cigars is more like pleasure and leisure, you can spend a lot of time, not like quickly puffing on a cigarette”.
Born in Macau and educated in Toronto, both Henry and his brother Charles returned a few years ago to begin helping with the family business.
Downstairs in the shop is a large, full-glass, walk-in humidor to store the products, which also includes lockers for regular customers to keep their cigars in.
Outside in the store, is a range of high quality humidors from France and Switzerland, along with cutters and lighters. And upstairs is a very refined private lounge where members can enjoy their favourite cigars.
According to Henry, most cigars average from around MOP200 to MOP500+ per stick, depending on the size and the brand. And to store them, you’ll need a nice humidor from French brand Elie Bleu, another MOP20,000 on average.
“The most famous and popular cigar brand for Mainland Chinese is Cohiba, but we also like to try to educate our customers about other brands too,” says Henry.
“Cohiba is a more medium to full-bodied cigar, good for pairing with strong liquor like whisky or brandy. Other brands have different strengths. Hoyo de Monterrey is a mild cigar with a creamy, coffee taste, so it’s more like an appetizer or a short, easy afternoon smoke.”
From the busy back streets of downtown central Macau, we move to the refined elegance of Wynn Macau and the cigar emporium there, owned and managed by The Pacific Cigar Company Ltd.
Here, General Manager of the store, Dickson Yip agrees about the popularity of the Cohiba brand in Macau.
“When it comes to cigars, Macau is a ‘Cohiba City’”, says Dickson. “The second most popular brand is Montecristo”.
“In Cuba there are 26 brands and over 300 different kinds of cigars. Ninety percent of our cigars are from Cuba, and our non-Cuban cigars come from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.”
All of the Pacific Cigar Company’s shops in Macau are located inside casino resorts, so it’s not surprising that their major customers are also from Mainland China.
But Dickson does see a difference between sales in Macau and neighbouring Hong Kong.
“In Hong Kong, 80 percent of the business comes from cigars and the rest from accessories, but in Macau only 65 percent is from cigars.
Our Chinese customers like to buy the accessories as gifts, and also, they are only here for a short time so they are in a hurry, so it’s easier for us to upsell them these products.”
The cigar emporium has been operating at Wynn Macau for ten years, and Dickson notes that in the past, a lot of sales were to Mainland Chinese customers buying cigars as gifts, but this has declined recently. Today more customers are buying cigars to smoke themselves.
“There has been a big change in the market and the trend in customers. People have started to know more about premium cigars.
They have gone from just looking at the price tag to now looking for something special,” he observes.
A tough market
Despite its reputation as the gambling capital of the world, Macau’s gaming industry has been facing challenges of late, particularly on the VIP side, and this has hit cigar retailers in town hard.
“The VIP downturn has affected us a lot. Our sales volume has decreased significantly,” notes Henry Leong of La Casa del Habano. “Our strategy now is to target more middle-class Chinese tourists and also locals, because the VIP customers are not coming here as much these days”.
Dickson Yip from the Pacific Cigar Company expresses a similar sentiment: “Our main customers are the VIP customers of the casinos, so our business basically follows the same trend as the casinos. They go up, we go up. They go down, we go down”.
But it’s not just the VIP market that is making life difficult for the cigar market in Macau.
“The laws have become a lot tougher. In terms of import duties on tobacco, Macau is the second most expensive place in Asia,” comments Dickson.
“The retail prices in Macau are double those in Hong Kong,” notes Henry Leong. “And prices are cheaper in Taiwan too.
People are starting to buy cigars online, but we are not allowed to do that here in Macau, and no marketing of tobacco products is allowed either, so we have to rely on relationships and word of mouth”.
Finally, there is the smoking ban that was introduced in 2013 for all offices, restaurants, bars and public places.
For now, some designated areas facilitate smoking on the casino floors, but if a proposed full ban comes into force, that will make things even more difficult.
“There should be a distinction between cigarettes and cigars, they are really different products,” argues Dickson.
“Cigarettes have a lot of chemicals, but a premium hand-rolled cigar is a natural organic product, just tobacco leaves that are dried, fermented, aged and rolled.”
Some customers know exactly what they want, while others still need a bit more help.
“First we need to ask them how long they want to smoke it for. The time it takes to smoke a cigar can be very different, from 20 minutes to more than an hour,” explains the general manager.
“And then it depends on the different time of day, at lunch time or after dinner; we will recommend different cigars depending on this. And of course their personal preferences, something stronger or something milder.”
Dickson began his love affair with cigars while working in the F&B industry in Hong Kong. He has travelled to Cuba a couple of times now, and this has only strengthened his passion.
“For a cigar smoker, going to Cuba is like a wine lover going to Bordeaux. It’s an amazing experience.”
Describing the different flavours and aromas, he explains: “The taste all depends on the blending of the leaves.
For some of the small cigars, they tend to offer more strength so they use more full-bodied or full taste leaves, so you taste the strength straight away.”
“But for longer cigars, there are different stages, the blend and the position of the leaves is different, so as you smoke you feel the change of the strength and the flavour, and this is what makes Cuban cigars so unique.
It’s not easy to do this and every stick needs to be the same. The cigar rollers are very talented.”
Dickson notes however, that there are fewer and fewer expert cigar rollers, because many of the old masters are retiring, and the younger generation have different opportunities now.
Premium Pairing
While a good cigar can be enjoyed all on its own, it can be even better when paired with a fine liquor like whisky.
“Cigars have different levels and tastes, but the whisky can bring out even more flavours and aromas,” says Neville Wu, Assistant Beverage Manager, F&B Operations at Galaxy Macau. “Cigars are a lifestyle product and whisky is the best match, but also rum, brandy and some cocktails.”
As we relax on a deep leather sofa in the dimly-lit Macallan Whisky Bar & Lounge, Neville recommends some expert pairing tips.
“Dominican Republic cigars can be more complex and are a good match for Irish whisky, with their smoky, peat flavours.
Cuban cigars are quite medium to full-bodied and their strong flavours match well with sweeter flavours of rum or brandy.
Most of our customers like Cohiba and these go well with a Macallan Whisky of around 18 to 25 years old.”
Neville notes that female guests sometimes prefer a lighter body cigar, and in this case he recommends a Davidoff 1000 matched with a highland Scotch whisky with its floral aromas and slight sweetness.
To make pairing a little easier, the Macallan Whisky Bar & Lounge offers a special promotion, in conjunction with the Davidoff cigar store at Galaxy, where guests can enjoy one Davidoff cigar and one rare Scotch whisky or premium rum for MOP238.
Altogether, the bar offers 17 types of Davidoff cigars from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and 13 Cuban cigars. Totally at the Galaxy property, over 80 types are available to guests.
Cuba on the rise
Undoubtedly, Cuba is the most famous country for cigar production.
The quality of its richly flavoured, slow-burning tobacco is attributed to its fertile soil and hot climate.
According to a Wall Street Journal report in May this year, Cuban brands account for around one fifth of the roughly 500 million handmade cigars sold around the world every year.
With the possible lifting of the US trade embargo in the near future, production in Cuba is set to grow by 20 percent annually over the next five years.
However the industry is controlled by a state-owned monopoly Tabacuba, which is plagued by inefficiency and red tape, and many believe Cuban production will not be able to keep up with any sudden jump in demand from the US, currently the world’s largest market for luxury cigars.
A place to relax
Kevin Ho is one of the founding partners and owners of the Macau Lifestyle Culture Promotion Association, a private members club for cigar lovers in Macau.
“Our aim is to promote leisure lifestyle, not cigars specifically. It’s a place to have quality time to relax after work and meet other professionals, and chat in a more relaxed way. You don’t necessarily have to be a cigar lover to be a member,” says Kevin.
The association has been running for around five years and has about 100 members.
“The majority are local Macau people, with some Mainland Chinese who live in Macau and expats. We have professionals from many different backgrounds.”
Kevin explains that with the tougher smoking laws in Macau, it’s not easy to find somewhere to sit and enjoy a cigar in air-conditioned comfort these days.
“Smoking cigars is very different from smoking cigarettes. People smoke cigars to relax, and can take up to one hour. Especially in summer, it’s difficult to find somewhere in town to smoke.” The association is for members only and is not open to the general public.
“We provide the space and free non-alcoholic drinks. We offer members a package so they can rent humidor boxes for one-year periods. Small ones are MOP15,000 per year and the bigger ones are MOP30,000.”
Kevin adds that the money members pay to rent the humidors can be credited to their accounts to buy cigars from the shop downstairs, Robusto Cigar Manor, which retails a range of cigars and accessories.
“We do offer one-day membership, so if you buy a cigar downstairs, you can come up and enjoy it.” To promote cigars and educate people about them, the association also occasionally invites expert cigar rollers to visit. “Usually once a year we try to get a Cuban master roller to visit us for a demonstration, through Pacific Cigar Company.”
